Riff echo

How to play Riff echo

Tap any key and it makes a sound right away, no setup. Pick one of four voices: a soft bell, a pluck, a warm bass or a set of tap drums where every key is a different hit. Hit the red button to record. You get a count in, then a two bar loop that repeats forever. Arm record again to play a second layer over the top, up to four in total. Every layer has a mute and a bin, and clear all wipes the lot. Snap is on by default so late taps still land on the beat. Switch to the daily echo for a short riff you have to play back by ear in three tries.

Tips

• Lay a bass line down first, then noodle a melody over it
• Leave snap on unless you want the loose, human feel
• Use tap drums for a backing layer, then switch to the bell
• In the daily echo only the notes count, not your timing

About Riff echo

Browsers have been able to make sound from scratch since the Web Audio API landed in 2011, which is why little music toys keep showing up online. There is no plugin to install and no file to download: the notes are built out of oscillators and volume curves while you play. That makes them a nice halfway house between a real instrument and a game. You get the immediate feedback of pressing a key without a shelf of gear, and a loop recorder turns a few random taps into something that sounds arranged. Wrong notes rarely matter much once a loop is going, they just start to sound deliberate.

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